Three Republican members of Congress were shown [link=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20059844-503544.html]fake bin Laden pictures[/link].

It seems as though they are unwilling to divulge who showed them the alleged pictures. This could get interesting. Either they are making it up for some odd reason or someone is running around the Hill stirring the pot.

edit - Former chief of the Department of Justice's Office of Information and Privacy Daniel Metcalfe thinks a [link=http://gawker.com/#!5798497/ex+justice-department-official-obama-could-be-forced-to-release-the-osama-death-photos]FOIA lawsuit[/link] could force Obama to release the photo.

The best part of the conference was the reporter trying to get him to be specific about "Was he actually shot in the face, or just in the 'head' as far as you know?" and the response was, "All I can tell you is that it was somewhere above the neck."

They totally shot him in the back of the head, and that's why they won't release photos, lmao.

Here's my concern. I view the missile strikes as "we can't get to them on foot to try to capture them, so this is our only option". Whereas the potential Rogue_Ten seems to be talking about is that they captured him, then executed him. Executing a captive prisoner without a trial is unconscionable, no matter who it is. If you were able to get close enough to have him captive or nearly so (and he was unarmed to boot, it seems) then that, to me, says that he could have been extracted as a prisoner.

It was better for everyone that he was killed. It would have been an endless political nightmare to deal with him as a prisoner. I'm very pacifist, but even I find little objectionable about his death, however it came about. He masterminded multiple operations against the United States, and regardless of his recent status as a mere figurehead, still had all that baggage from what he did up to and including 9-11.

It was better for everyone that he was killed. It would have been an endless political nightmare to deal with him as a prisoner. I'm very pacifist, but even I find little objectionable about his death, however it came about. He masterminded multiple operations against the United States, and regardless of his recent status as a mere figurehead, still had all that baggage from what he did up to and including 9-11.

It was better for everyone that he was killed. It would have been an endless political nightmare to deal with him as a prisoner. I'm very pacifist, but even I find little objectionable about his death, however it came about. He masterminded multiple operations against the United States, and regardless of his recent status as a mere figurehead, still had all that baggage from what he did up to and including 9-11.

He's dead. The means is irrelevant to me.

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KW, if Bush, Chaney or Rummy had said something along those lines, you'd have been the first person to jump all over them.

The administration keeps tweaking the story trying to find the angle that will get the very small number of critics to shut up. Today it's "he was going for a gun."

It's possible that enough details will emerge from this story that we will eventually know the full layout of the room where he was killed, where bin Laden was when the SEALs entered, where any weapons were located, etc., but I find it amazing that as carefully as this mission was planned, nobody took the time to make sure everyone involved was on the same page about what they were going to say about it afterward.

It was better for everyone that he was killed. It would have been an endless political nightmare to deal with him as a prisoner. I'm very pacifist, but even I find little objectionable about his death, however it came about. He masterminded multiple operations against the United States, and regardless of his recent status as a mere figurehead, still had all that baggage from what he did up to and including 9-11.

He's dead. The means is irrelevant to me.

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This is why we can't have nice things, humanity.

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*shrug*

I can still sleep at night. And I'll continue to sleep at night even if I found out that they dragged him out into the courtyard kicking and screaming, naked, and after confirming his identity put a round in the back of his head.

Let's keep this in perspective, people: This was not a drug bust. This was not a drunk driver. This was not a matter of law.

This was Osama bin Laden we're talking about. This was a known combatant. This was a known enemy commander who was actively plotting the death of more people.

What are we afraid of here, exactly? That people will be angry at us for shooting an unarmed bin Laden? Those who would get angry at us for taking that scum out will get angry at us even if he had had an M-60 in hand, surrounded by the bodies of dozens of SEALs, delivering a witty one liner and detonating his nuclear suicide belt in the middle of the White House.

I celebrate his death, and even at my most vicious I recognize the wisdom of the respect we did show his corpse in the end. If it had been me I would have had to push through that viciousness and vindictive hatred of the ******* to have done that, because if I hadn't I would have ordered his corpse sewn into a pig and buried, full complement of cameras streaming it out live for all the world to see. Of course, this would have been extremely insensitive to the one-and-a-half billion sane Muslims out there, causing more problems than satisfying my pettiness would have justified.

As far as I'm concerned, all this stuff about bin Laden being shot in the back of the head, assassinated, intentionally killed etc after trying to surrender to the SEALs is one big conspiracy theory. I'm going to condescendingly refer to you all as

For every White House official that says it was a kill mission, there is just one more to say it was capture kill. So who knows?

Anyway, it doesn't matter if the chances of him coming out alive were slim to none because of all of the unknowns that the SEAL had to decide in a split second. Thats bin Laden's problem. This is a guy who for over ten years made an art form out of killing people with concealed weapons, suicide vests, surprise attacks and such. It shouldn't surprise anyone that any sudden movement he made spooked the SEAL into shooting him.

Edit
Even if I am wrong and this was a kill mission, where were you guys when Obama started this party in 2009? Drone strikes killed almost 1000 civilians in Pakistan in 2010, not to mention the hundreds if not thousands of other militants intentionally blasted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen over the past two years. Why didn't their lives matter to you? Stop trying to claim the high ground, because there is nothing there for you.

Perhaps you missed the part where I said that doing such as thing would have been impulsive, vindictive and petty. That it would have been a bad idea and that I'm glad someone with a cooler head was in charge? Or the part where I said that if I were in the position that I would have fought that impulse?

Thank you g and JFT for making sense. Based on what RT is saying apparently the appropriate course of action would have been to run in and give bin Laden a big hug and tell him everything would be ok and sit him down for therapy sessions. The guy is known for his role in suicide bombings and concealed weaponry. He didn't have to be waving a gun shouting "look at this ****ing gun!" No one knew what kind of weapons he could have been hiding.

In other news, [link=http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/159397-obama-floats-plan-to-tax-cars-by-the-mile]Obama still wants to know your exact location at all times and punish people who commute to work[/link]. Wiretapping? Violation of privacy. iPhones storing location data? Violation of privacy. Government issued tracking devices on all vehicles? Sure, why not.

Face it, bin Laden was summarily executed to avoid all the messy details of what to do with a live bin Laden. With a live bin Laden, the questions of international law - where to try him, was he illegally kidnapped from Pakistan, haunt the proceedings forever. Why isn't he being tried in the Hague? How was evidence against him collected and is it admissible at trial? Is he subject to the death penalty? You can't have a public trial of Osama bin Laden without laying the methodology of anti-terrorism intelligence gathering on the table for the world to see. And lord knows you can't have a secret trial of bin Laden either. Endless waves of international outrage follow the process for years, no matter what you do.

From a pragmatic viewpoint, justice for bin Laden would be very bad for business. It was just so much easier to shoot him and dump the weighted body in the ocean.